


Freelance Good Guys: The Aldfog Mystery

by TheGreys (alienjpeg)



Series: Looming Gaia [26]
Category: Freelance Good Guys, Looming Gaia
Genre: Action/Adventure, Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Captivity, Drama, Explicit Language, Fantasy, Horror, M/M, Magic, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23090134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienjpeg/pseuds/TheGreys
Summary: Evan is delighted to see an old friend, but that friend doesn’t feel the same. Regardless, they must work together to solve the dark mystery behind Aldfog’s missing townsfolk.
Series: Looming Gaia [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/833844
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4





	1. Grim Dealings

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the Freelance Good Guys series. I strongly recommend at least reading stories #1-6 before this or it won’t make a lot of sense. Please heed the tags for content warnings.
> 
> See concept art, discussions, dumb memes and more on the World of Looming Gaia blog: http://loominggaia.tumblr.com/post/175087795478/looming-gaia-masterpost

**[CHAPTER 1: GRIM DEALINGS]**

_EARLY WINTER, 6006_

Sleep was a stranger to Lukas, a thing meant only for those with a clear conscience. A wicked world awaited behind his eyes, beckoning him to let his guard down and fall into the void of nightmares.

Lukas refused. A third cup of coffee quieted the call of the void and he continued painting all through the night. He sat on a stool before an easel, and on it was canvas, wet with layers of paint. His rendering of the majestic Blue Valley was almost complete. Now it was time to add the fine details.

Picking up a small brush, Lukas leaned in close to the canvas. Just as the bristles made contact, his entire treehouse quaked. Lukas’ stool toppled and he fell forward, face smashing against the canvas. His easel fell to the floor and so did he. The small room was lit by a hanging lantern that quivered with each bang upon the roof.

Lukas scrambled to his feet and rushed out the door. Just as he suspected, Isaac’s roc was standing on his roof again. She clutched a great bundle of straw in her beak.

“Are you kidding me?” the man shouted. “Piss off, Shadow! Get out of here!”

Shadow paid him no mind. She simply hammered her great beak against his roof, pulling up more straw each time. Lukas swiped a broom off his balcony and quickly climbed the ladder to the rooftop. “You fat, thieving rat! Go!” he snarled and swung the broom like a sword, striking the beast across the face.

Shadow dropped the stolen straw with a screech and flapped her wings. The force of the gust pushed Lukas back, nearly knocking him off the roof. The bird ascended and began flying away. He chucked the broom at her for good measure. It harmlessly hit her talon in a spinning arc and then fell to the ground far below. Lukas heard the distinct wooden crack of the handle snapping in two.

Lukas dragged a palm over his face. When he pulled it away, it was covered with paint. He muttered curses to himself as he made his way back into the treehouse. A toppled easel, spilled coffee, and a ruined painting awaited him inside. He looked back through the doorway and saw dawn’s first light shining through the treetops.

Even work sounded more attractive than dealing with this mess, so he closed the door and began climbing the long ladder to the forest floor.

*

Evan was seated at his desk, about to stamp a red “X” on another bad contract when he heard voices arguing outside the door. Lukas barged into his office just a moment later with paint smeared on his face, dragging Isaac by his ear.

“She’s building a nest! It’s a natural instinct, I can’t do anything about it!” shouted Isaac.

Lukas shouted back, “Well, you better figure something out or I’ll make a roast of her!” Then he turned to Evan and said, “Evan, throw me a contract before I lose my damn mind, will you? I need a vacation from this snot-nosed kid and his flying rat!”

“She’s not a rat! And my nose isn’t snotty!” argued Isaac, twisting out of the man’s grip.

Evan’s brows arched as he sifted through a pile of papers nearby. “Actually,” he said, handing a contract to Lukas, “I just approved a very lucrative contract from Aldfog. It’s an Evangelite territory, so for safety reasons I’ll need a full crew of human males. Want to join me?”

Lukas’ eyes darted over the page. After a moment, he looked back at Evan and queried, “You’re taking Evangelite contracts now? Since when?”

Evan shrugged. “I had a change of heart since I visited my family. Makes quite a difference knowing I’m not a wanted man over there.”

Examining the contract further, Lukas said, “Missing persons, huh? Tell me this isn’t the Sovereign again...”

“Highly unlikely. The victims don’t share much in common. Our culprit doesn’t seem picky, which makes me think we’re probably dealing with some kind of animal. A bear or dragon, perhaps. Maybe even a werewolf.”

“Takes one to know one. When can I start?”

“You’ll be joining myself and Isaac tomorrow. Make sure to bring silver arrows. You know, in case it _is_ a werewolf.”

“Yes!” Isaac hissed with delight. Meanwhile Lukas’ shoulders dropped with disappointment.

“Ev, I’m trying to get _away_ from this kid!” the archer protested. “Come on, give me something else!”

Evan told him, “I’ve already dispatched Balthazaar to Serkel, Glenvar’s still recovering, and we’ll need Isaac for transport. I mean, you _could_ just stay home and leave me with a skeleton crew. I’m sure nothing bad will happen…”

Lukas glared at Evan, who offered a cheeky smile back. Tossing the contract on the desk, Lukas decided, “Fine! But after we get paid, Isaac has to pay for damages to my roof.”

“Your roof didn’t cost anything! We built it ourselves!” argued Isaac.

Lukas argued back, “It costs _time_ , you little puke! You think my time is worthless?”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Evan broke in. “Isaac, Shadow is your responsibility, meaning whatever damage she causes is your responsibility too. When we return from Aldfog, I want you to help Lukas fix his roof and then work on training that bird better. Understood?”

Isaac crossed his arms, sighing at the ceiling. “Okay...”

“Fair enough, I guess,” mumbled Lukas.

“Good.” The captain’s smile returned. “Now try not to kill eachother, because I need you both back here at high sun tomorrow.”

*

Shadow fought against the wind while Isaac piloted her through the snow and mist. Winter was charging the Blue Valley like an angry bull. Isaac pulled his woolen facewrap tighter to protect him from the stinging air. He swiped the snow from his flight goggles with his sleeve, but the lenses were wet again in seconds.

The ride was long and miserable, but the weather finally calmed by the time Shadow’s gazebo touched down in Aldfog. The city was nestled in Timberland Forest, surrounded by towering, naked trunks on all sides. Every branch was encased by glittering ice.

The city itself was a rustic place of simple stone and wood arcitecture. A grey haze lingered above as smoke rose from every chimney. Evan and his crew stepped out of the gazebo onto the plowed runway. They paid an attendant to stable Shadow and then made their way into the town proper.

They saw commoner citizens bustling about despite the snow, all bundled up in layers of fur. The mercenaries heard a voice shout from behind, then stepped aside when a small cart passed them by.

Pulling the cart were two enslaved centaurs. Steam blasted from their mouths with every pant of exertion, and their front and back hooves were fastened together by loose chains. The chains allowed them to walk, but not to run as they pushed a heavy snow plow and pulled a cart full of human passengers all at once. The dirt road was exposed in their wake.

The mercenaries watched the centaurs disappear around the corner. Lukas tipped his head and muttered, “I hate this kingdom.”

“I know, I know…” Evan sighed, “Let’s find the mayor so we can get this over with as quickly as possible.”

The town center was marked by a great stone statue of a bear, standing proudly with a fish in its jaws. Just behind the statue stood a three-story building with a roof of shingled points. Smoke poured from its many chimneys. After speaking with a chain of receptionists and waiting for over an hour, the mercenaries were finally greeted by the mayor of Aldfog.

He was a tall, portly man dressed in a blue suit. A white moustache snaked down the sides of his mouth like a squirrel’s tail. He walked with an iron-tipped cane, tucking it under his arm as he pulled a rag from his pocket and mopped his fair brow, gleaming with sweat. Tucked under his opposite arm was a paper folder.

“You must be those sellswords I wrote,” he wheezed. “I hope you’re as good as folks say. The Evangeline Guard’s been as useless as a one-legged chair!”

Evan extended his gloved hand for a shake and said, “The Freelance Good Guys are at your service, sir. We understand that Aldfog citizens have been going missing as of late.”

Shaking his hand, the mayor replied, “Not just as of late. Townsfolk have been riding my ass about this problem for months! As if it’s _my_ fault their backwater cousins got dragged off by a bear…”

He shook his head. “Anyway, elections are coming up and I need those people found before spring, you hear me? I don’t care if they’re alive or dead, I’ll pay you for every head you find. If you manage to capture the beast responsible, I’ll throw in a fat bonus.”

He passed the folder to Evan. “Here’s all the information we have on the victims. Photographs, addresses, things of that nature. I don’t expect you fellas to find even half of them, but just a few would be enough to get these folks off my back and put coin in your pockets. Any questions? Make it quick, I got bad knees.”

The crew exchanged glances and shrugs. Evan held up the folder and replied, “No, sir. I think we have all the info we need right here. We’ll report back as soon as we can.”

With that, the mercenaries left the building. They rented a room at an inn on the edge of town, where they dropped their bags and took a much needed rest. The room was encased in wood from floor to ceiling. Mold and small plants were growing between the planks, tiny mushrooms sprouting in one corner. The window was opaque with icy condensation.

A table sat against one wall with four mismatched chairs. Isaac sparked a fire in the small stone hearth, then sat at the table with Evan and Lukas. The surface was scattered with greasy local cuisine and documents from the mayor’s folder.

Evan studied the documents as he chewed his way through his second roast beef sandwich. He swallowed the last bite and noted, “A lot of these people are woodcutters.”

“Hunters, too,” added Lukas. He took a bite from a butter-drenched biscuit and continued, “Pretty much all of the women here disappeared on their way to the next town over. Seems like the men went missing on their way to or from work.”

“But they all had business in the western forest, every last one of them,” Evan said, tapping one of the documents. “It _must_ be an animal. Probably some old bear struggling to fatten up before hibernation. I say tomorrow morning, we head up the logging trail and see what we can sniff out.”

*

Snow crunched beneath the mercenaries’ boots as they ventured into Timberland Forest. Evan armored up in steel plates, Lukas and Isaac in heavy leather to face whatever danger lie ahead. Shadow trailed them, Isaac watching for danger from her saddle. If it was a bear or dragon they were dealing with, they figured Shadow would be a valuable asset.

The forest was deathly-quiet in these dark, early hours. Steam gusted from between Lukas’ chattering teeth. He pulled his scarf over the bottom of his face and mumbled, “It’s colder than my mother’s heart out here. I guess that’s one thing I miss about Uekoro—your balls might stick to your leg, but at least they won’t _shrink_!”

With a tiny smile, Evan told him, “Watch your language, Mr. Fanaka. There are children present.”

“Uh, hello? Since when is sixteen a ‘child’?” Isaac exclaimed, damning the crack in his voice as he did.

“Save your breath, son. Who taught you to tie your shoes, huh? Who scrubbed the piss from your sheets? You’ll always be a child to me,” Evan told him. Just as Isaac opened his mouth to argue, the captain raised a finger to silence his crew. They all stopped in their tracks, listening closely.

A faint chorus of voices meandered through the naked trees. The voices were high and feminine like tiny bells, yet their melody was eerie, ominous, a warning not unlike a growling predator. Lights began appearing in the forest. The mercenaries realized they were the eyes of nymphs, glaring at them from the bold shadows of the rocks and trees.

Evan turned back to his crew and whispered, “We’ve got isanae. Possibly hostile.”

Lukas rolled his eyes. “Oh, great…” Fishing a book of matches from his vest pocket, he added, “Hand me your flask. I’ll make short work of them.”

“No, no,” Evan whispered back, waving his hand. “Just follow my lead.”

Clearing his throat, Evan continued down the path and began to hum the tune of a well-known folk song. Lukas and Isaac hesitated, then hummed along. After a moment, the harsh glares of the nymphs softened. Their ominous chorus suddenly brightened to match the mercenaries’ tune.

Evan began to sing,

“ _From the mountains to the trees,_

_In the lakes and in the seas,_

_Friends of birds and honeybees,_

_You will see, you will see…”_

Figures slowly crept out from the forest. Their white flesh glittered like the snow, their hair like spider’s silk, so fine that it seemed to defy gravity. They cautiously followed the mercenaries from a distance.

“ _From the mouths of volcanoes,_

_Every time the wind blows,_

_Thank your garden when it grows,_

_You will know, you will know_ …”

Growing bolder, the isanae abandoned the cover of nature and skipped alongside the mercenaries. Their bright smiles flashed below blue eyes that gleamed like ice. Shadow let out a low, wary crow, but Isaac stroked her feathers to reassure her.

“ _Mother Gaia is alive,_

_So help her daughters to survive,_

_Open your arms when they arrive,_

_And you will thrive, you will thrive!”_

The isanae were a flurry of graceful skips and twirls, dancing around the mercenaries in a circle as they sang along,

_“The mountains and the trees, all alive, all alive!_

_Every lake and every sea, so alive, so alive!_

_All the birds and honeybees,_

_In the flame and in the freeze,_

_Just stop and listen to the breeze,_

_Oh, won’t you hear us, hear us, please,_

_We are alive, all alive, so alive!”_

The circle suddenly broke apart. The isanae dispersed in a fit of delighted giggles, rushing back into the forest. They disappeared among the icy trunks and evergreen brush. The forest fell into dead silence, all but the first twitters of birdsong from the canopy.

Lukas sucked in a breath through his nostrils and let it out slow through his mouth. He clapped a hand on Evan’s armored shoulder and said, “Good thing you were here. They definitely would’ve killed me, the way I sing. I honk like a goose.”

Evan chuckled, “I think they know now where we stand. Nymphs can always tell when folks are up to no good.”

“So we don’t have to worry about being attacked anymore?” queried Isaac.

Evan shrugged and replied, “Not by isanae.”

They continued down the trail, keeping a sharp eye out for movement in the trees. Bits of snow cascaded down every time a bird landed upon a branch.

“You don’t think those people were dragged off by nymphs, do you?” asked Lukas.

“I doubt it,” said Evan. “Nymphs usually attack people to send a message. If they were responsible, they’d want Aldfog to know it. We’d have passed at least a few piked heads by now.”

Among the white snow and black trunks, a small flash of color caught Isaac’s eye. “Guys, look! What’s that red thing? In that tree waaaay over there, see it?” he said, pointing to the thicket to his right.

Lukas briefly glanced over, then sighed, “That’s a bird, Isaac…”

But Evan, with his sharp lycanthrope vision, squinted at the tiny shape and said, “No, wait. I think we’ve got something. Mind clearing a path for us, Shadow?”

Isaac nodded, then clicked his tongue to guide his roc forward through the brush. Her bulk cut through with ease, bending every branch before her. She made a wide trail, which the mercenaries followed all the way up to their first clue.

A red glove was hanging off a low branch. Evan carefully plucked it off and examined it. “Leather work glove,” he said. “Human-sized. Judging by the location, this likely belonged to a lumberjack.” He raised the glove to his nose and sniffed. “Owner is male. Tobacco smoker. Definitely likes his whisky.” Burying his nose deeper, he determined, “Possibly suffering from liver disease. Poor man.”

Lukas crossed his arms and asked, “And what can we do with this oh-so-valuable information?”

“This is a quality glove,” Evan told him, weighing the thing in his own gloved palm. “I can’t imagine anyone leaving it out here on purpose. Considering it was stuck in this branch and the other is nowhere to be found, I think we have evidence of a struggle.”

Evan dropped to his knee in the snow, blue cape pooling around him as he hunched over like a bridge. He touched the tip of his nose to the snow, brushing the powder around with his fingers. He then approached a nearby tree and sniffed the trunk.

A grin spread over his face. “We’ve got a trail!” he announced. Unsheathing the machete at his hip, he began slashing his way deeper into the forest. His crew followed.

Evan stopped every so often to press his nose against a tree or hunch over the snow, but after an hour or so, he and his crew arrived at a small clearing. There stood a humble cottage built from rough stone bricks. Rows of carrots and potatoes were sprouting from the garden, lush and green despite the temperature.

The house didn’t seem to have windows. Snow had been pushed away to the edges of the property, forming a makeshift wall. Smoke was rising from the chimney.

“Someone must be home,” muttered Evan, leading his crew forth. He followed the glove’s scent up to the front door. It was made of solid wood planks with a brass knob. Shadow stretched her neck to pick at the straw on the roof. Isaac quickly jerked her reigns and scolded her before dismounting from her saddle.

Evan stuffed the glove in his pocket and raised his hand to knock. Before his knuckles made contact, the door swung open. Oddly, no one was standing behind it. The mercenaries saw only a person in an oversized white cloak, sitting in a rocking chair at the back of the room. The person’s head did not turn when she spoke, and she had the creaky voice of an elderly woman when she beckoned the mercenaries, “Come in, come in, quickly! You’ll let all the heat out!”

The captain shot a glance back at his crew. They shared a collective nod of agreement, then together, they stepped into the cottage and closed the door behind them. The interior was rustic and quaint. An abundance of potted plants littered the room, some so overgrown that their ivy climbed and choked entire walls. On either side of the rocking chair were two wooden living chairs, making four seats total.

“Sit down and shake out the cold, travelers,” said the old woman, gesturing to the empty seats. The fire flickered in the hearth beside her, casting the room in a dim, warm glow. The flesh of her hand was gnarled with knobby knuckles, and though the lighting was poor, Evan could swear she looked green.

He and his crew filled three of the seats. “Thank you kindly for inviting us in, ma’am,” Evan said to her. “My name is—”

“I know who you are and I know why you’re here,” the old woman creaked, waving her knobby hand dismissively. “You’re a gaggle of sellswords, here to pester me about those missing townsfolk.”

Evan cocked his head, shooting a look towards his crew. They looked back with similarly baffled expressions. “Er, yes,” replied Evan. “How did you know?”

The woman finally drew the hood of her cloak back, revealing a weathered, green, goblin face. Her conical head stretched high, yellow eyes clouded by cataracts. She answered, “Because I’m a telepath, Mr. Atlas. I sensed your intentions before you even stepped into my house.” She tipped her head towards the wall. “Not to mention I heard your roc pulling straw off my roof.”

“Yeah, uh, sorry about that…” mumbled Isaac.

Evan raised his brows and queried, “A telepath, are you? So you can read minds?”

“Yes,” the woman told him, gently rocking in her chair. “I am reading yours now, and you are wondering what a goblin is doing in Evangelite lands without irons on her wrists. But your mother raised you properly and you are too polite to ask. Well, I tell you, I was not always free. I escaped my bonds a lifetime ago, and now I am forced to remain hidden under the shrouds of cloaks and darkness. This kingdom was no place for fae in my day, and it has only gotten worse with time.”

Evan frowned, face warming with shame. “I’m sorry it’s like this. You’re very courageous, letting us humans into your home after what you’ve been through,” he said.

“I know what it’s like to live in fear of your own countrymen,” said the goblin, her wrinkled mouth curving into a smile. “You know that feeling too, don’t you, Mr. Atlas?”

The captain’s heart skipped a beat. He noticed movement in the corner of his eye, turning to see two figures peeking at him through a doorway. Their long, goblin noses jutted out from the shadows of their hoods, their eyes glowing red.

“It’s alright,” the elderly goblin went on, raising her palms. “I’m in no position to judge. You and I are both children of the moon. We are both enemies of the Evangeline Guard. We’re both allergic to silver and we both thirst for blood now and again. We have much in common, don’t we?”

Lukas slowly reached for the dagger on his hip, fingers tightening around the handle. He glared back at the red eyes in the doorway. Evan turned to the old goblin and asked, “Who are you?”

“You may call me Elder Dreamcaller, grand matriarch of the Dreamcaller Clan,” she answered calmly. “And to answer your next question: yes, I am a vampire.”

In that instant, she dropped her magical guise. Her yellow eyes flashed red, green skin fading to gray. Spidery black veins spread over her face. Her eyes were sunken and bruised like those of a corpse.

“Vampire?” blurted Isaac, shooting up from his seat. Lukas quickly pulled him back down and hushed him.

Elder Dreamcaller told them, “Please, don’t panic as if I’m some kind of savage. I am a reasonable woman, so long as you are reasonable with me.”

“We’re not looking for trouble, Elder Dreamcaller,” said Evan. “We have no business with you or your clan. Our business lies strictly with the missing folks from Aldfog. If you have any information about that—and I’m certain you do—it would be in your best interest to tell us.”

The elder leaned back in her chair, intertwining her fingers in her lap. “Oh, I have all the information you need. I can tell you where every last one of those people are, but that knowledge isn’t free. I ask something from you in return.”

Evan let out a sigh. “What is it?” he asked wearily.

“The Oakenroot clan dwells not far from here,” said the elder, gesturing vaguely to the wall behind her. “That way, as the crow flies, you will see an unusual tree with a gaping mouth. I want you to go inside and slay every last Oakenroot wretch you see. Present their heads to me and I will give you the answers you seek.”

“You want us to assassinate a random family?” queried Lukas. “You say you’re not a savage. Well, neither are we. We don’t do that kind of thing.”

Elder Dreamcaller assured him, “You will have no regrets once you meet those cretins! You’ll be doing Mother Gaia a favor by putting them down like the rabid curs they are. They terrorize not only us, but the people of Aldfog as well. You _are_ trying to help the townsfolk, isn’t that right?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Evan replied, “I suppose…”

The old goblin waved towards the front door and said, “Then go out and kill those wretched Oakenroots! Their clan is a little over a dozen strong, so I expect you to bring at least a dozen heads for my mantle when you return. Should you betray me, I will tell you nothing. Should you kill me, you will fall by my side. Do we have a deal, sellswords?”

Lukas and Isaac looked to Evan. “Are we really doing this?” muttered Lukas. Evan showed him a defeated shrug and rose to his feet.

“I guess we don’t have much choice. It’s a deal,” said Evan. He shook the goblin’s hand and the trio exited the cottage.

*


	2. Like the Breeze

**[CHAPTER 2: LIKE THE BREEZE]**

Shadow forged a path through the forest, heading south. Isaac rode upon her back, Lukas and Evan in tow, searching for over an hour before they found the tree the old goblin spoke of. It was unmistakable; a great, twisted old oak with a gaping hole in its trunk. Its bark was gnarled in two places above its maw, giving the illusion of eyes staring ahead.

“Looks like it’s yawning,” mentioned Isaac, dismounting the roc.

“Or screaming,” mumbled Lukas.

Evan pressed a finger to his lips to hush them. He quietly crept towards the hole and peeked inside. Remnants of cobwebs dangled from its edges, glittering with frost. Inside the trunk was a tunnel leading down into a dark abyss. The incline was steep, nearly vertical, and there was no ladder to be seen.

Evan pulled a coiled rope out of Shadow’s saddlebag. He fastened his iron shield to his back, tied one end of the rope around a thin tree, and tossed the other end down the hole. He was the first to start climbing down, beckoning his crew to follow.

Once they reached stable ground at the bottom, Evan shook a glass bottle dangling off his belt. The candleseed inside broke out of its shell, providing a soft light which they used to navigate their way through the tunnel.

Sounds of shuffling feet and clumsy rummaging echoed from the abyss further down. Evan secured his shield with one hand, readying his sword in the other. Lukas nocked an arrow in his bow, Isaac’s grip tightening on his iron staff, and the trio quietly moved ahead.

Evan whispered, “I smell blood and lots of it. Stay alert. We might be dealing with more vampires.”

“Oh, what fun,” grumbled Lukas, switching out his iron-tipped arrow for a silver one.

The tunnel eventually ended at a wooden door. It was wide open with a black handprint on its surface. The handprint was smeared around to the other side, as if the door were hastily pushed by desperate, dirty hands.

The doorway led to an open dirt room with a wooden table in its center. Dishes were scattered, chairs toppled, and a corpse was lying on the floor. Sounds of activity were still echoing through another doorway. Whoever killed this poor individual was probably still nearby, thought Evan, kneeling beside the body.

The corpse was that of an elven male lying face-down, the ground below saturated with black, sludgy ooze. A crossbow bolt was lodged in his back, piercing through his simple tunic.

“Yep, vampires,” Evan grunted. He plucked the bolt from the corpse’s back and inspected it too. He noticed its silver point, quirked an eyebrow when he added, “And uh, possibly vampire hunters…?”

“Then let’s get out of here and let the professionals do the dirty work,” said Lukas.

“But if they kill that old lady, we’ll never find out where the townsfolk are,” Isaac reminded him.

Evan beckoned them to follow as he crept through the next doorway. Another long corridor stretched before them, littered with more dead vampires. Each body was clad in pajamas and had at least one silver bolt lodged in them. The mercenaries counted the corpses as they passed. There were seven.

“Looks like our hunter just posted himself at the end of the hall and sniped everyone who came through,” whispered Lukas. “Smart guy. Maybe we should do the same and wait for him to step out?”

“Why do you immediately assume he’s our enemy?” asked Evan. “Or a man, for that matter?”

Lukas sighed, “Come on. Can we afford to be wrong? Look at this carnage! This guy is a killing machine!”

“Just stay low, alright? No bolt is getting through this shield,” Evan told him, and together, they reached the end of the hall and peeked through the open doorway.

Finally they found the source of the noise. A lean figure in dark leather armor was rummaging through the next room, which seemed to be a kitchen. They counted five more corpses laying around, some with bolts in them, others mangled and shredded.

The stranger just happened to have a crossbow and quiver strapped to their back, as well as some kind of thorny whip on their belt. They hadn’t yet noticed the mercenaries. They seemed preoccupied with searching for something, opening cabinets and tossing things off shelves. A black hood obscured their face in shadow.

Lukas aimed his arrow and gave Evan a nudge. Isaac stood behind as Evan lifted his shield and called, “Don’t move!”

The stranger froze. Their back was turned to the mercenaries.

“We don’t want to hurt you. Put your hands up,” ordered Evan. The stranger obeyed, slowly lifting their gloved palms. “Now turn around,” ordered Evan. Once again the stranger obeyed.

The mercenaries jumped at the red eyes staring back at them, glowing brightly in the shadow of the stranger’s hood.

“Shit, he’s a vampire himself,” whispered Lukas. “Want me to take the shot?”

“Shh,” Evan hushed him and took a step forward. He said to the vampire, “My name is Evan Atlas, I’m with the Freelance Good Guys. We’re looking for the Oakenroot clan. Are we in the right place?”

The vampire’s eyes flashed, rounding wide for a brief moment. Then he quickly lowered his head, obscuring them under his hood as he mumbled, “Yes. They’re all dead.”

“What about you?” asked Lukas. “Are you an Oakenroot?”

The stranger answered, “No. Not anymore.”

Evan furrowed his brow at a familiar scent, just barely detectable over the pungent stench of blood. He took another step closer, but the vampire took one back, quickly reaching for his crossbow.

“Don’t move!” shouted Lukas, arrow still nocked. But the crossbow was already in the stranger’s hand, the other frozen at his quiver. He realized he was out of bolts anyway and dropped the weapon. It clattered heavily on the floor, a sturdy contraption of wood and metal.

“Just leave,” said the stranger. “They’re all dead. I’m not one of them. They won’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“Why did you kill them?” asked Evan.

The stranger’s voice was low and hoarse as he answered, “Because the world is a better place without them. If you want to kill me, then kill me. Otherwise, leave. There’s nothing for mortals in this cursed place.”

Evan glanced back at Lukas and Isaac. He waved his hand, signaling them to lower their weapons. His cohorts hesitated, then slowly did as they were told.

They watched as Evan approached the stranger with caution. For every step he took forward, the stranger stepped back until he was cornered against a wall. The vampire kept his head down low, and Evan could see the slightest quiver in his muscles as he neared.

Evan reached towards him.

“Don’t…” the stranger creaked, but he was helpless to stop the mercenary as he drew his black hood away. A head of long, white hair was exposed. Attached to that, a ghoulish, gray face. Black veins stretched across the vampire’s flesh, eyes sunken and ringed by dark bags.

He was hideous. But he was familiar, and Evan’s jaw dropped at the sight of him.

“I knew it…” he gasped. The vampire closed his eyes tightly, shrinking back against the wall as if in shame. Evan’s fallen jaw quickly turned into a delighted, toothy grin. “Gods, it’s really you!” he blurted, then threw his arms around the vampire and pulled him into his crushing embrace.

Lukas raised an eyebrow at Isaac. Isaac shot him a similar expression and a shrug. Meanwhile, their captain was nearly sobbing through his booming laughter as he rambled, “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, Zeffer! How many nights I’ve lied awake worrying about you, how many tears I’ve shed for you! I-I was sure I’d never see you again!”

He finally pulled away, hands clasped tightly on the vampire’s shoulders. Zeffer still seemed reluctant to meet his gaze, scowling down at the dirt floor. Evan quickly swiped the tears out of his eyes, smile fading. After a moment, he asked quietly, breathlessly, “Why did you abandon me?”

A long silence passed. Zeffer suffered through every second of it, fangs gnashed, quivering with anger or sadness or pain—or a combination of all three. He simply shook his head and lowered it again, hiding behind his long hair.

Evan was having none of it. He gave Zeffer’s shoulders a hard shake and pleaded, “Zeffer, _why_? Do you have any idea how much that hurt me? W-we had so much fun the day before! We shared that wonderful night together, and then…and then I woke alone. Please, _please_ , just tell me why!”

“I told you why. It was all in the letter,” Zeffer mumbled.

“That damned letter was three sentences long!” Evan suddenly growled, shoving the vampire against the wall. “After all we’d been through together, you couldn’t be bothered to say a proper goodbye?”

“I know, I know! I was a coward, alright?” Zeffer growled back. He tried to shove Evan away, but the lycanthrope’s bulk didn’t budge. Zeffer knocked himself back against the wall, burying his face in his hands as he groaned, “I knew it would hurt you. I couldn’t bear to be around to see it. You know I…I can’t handle that kind of thing. I can’t see the people I love cry, I just can’t...”

Evan pried Zeffer’s hands away from his face. “Zef, look at me,” he creaked.

Zeffer shook his head, closing his eyes tight. “Zeffer Vengelor!” Evan growled shaking him again. Reluctantly, one of Zeffer’s eyes cracked open.

Evan’s stared back at him, green and tearful and full of pain. His breath hitched slightly as he continued through his teeth, “Don’t sit here and tell me that after _twenty_ long years, you haven’t grown at all! These tears I cry, I cry them for you! The least you can do is face them!”

Another uncomfortable silence passed. Lukas stared on, unblinking at the drama before him. “No fucking way…” he muttered under his breath.

Isaac leaned in close and whispered, “Who is that guy?”

Lukas shook his head, still unblinking as he answered, “He’s…he used to be me.”

“What?”

“Evan’s old commander,” Lukas clarified.

Isaac turned towards Zeffer, then back to Lukas. “He was a Freelance Good Guy? Why am I just now hearing about him?” he blurted. “You guys are always keeping stuff from me!”

Lukas scrubbed his gloved fingers against his eyes and groaned, “Gods, this couldn’t be more awkward…” Then he stepped forward and called, “Evan! Are you going to introduce us or what?”

Evan jumped with a start. He looked at Lukas for a moment, then dragged Zeffer towards him. He cleared the quake from his voice and said, “Guys, this is Zeffer Vengelor. He’s a very dear old friend of mine. He used to be one of our crew.”

Isaac hesitated, choosing his words carefully before he asked, “Was he always a, uh…?”

“A vampire?” Zeffer finished flatly. “Yes. Since the day Evan met me. But he never held it against me, just like I never held his lycanthropy against him. We were a good team.”

“So why did you dump him like an unwanted dog?” asked Lukas, crossing his arms.

“Lukas…” Evan warned.

Zeffer snapped, “That’s hardly your business, is it? And just who are _you_ , anyway?”

“Zeffer, this is Lukas,” Evan introduced his crewman, placing a hand on his armored shoulder. He gestured to Isaac with his other. “And over there is Isaac. They’re my crewmen and two of my closest friends. I met Lukas just a few months after you left. I saved him from a gang of bandits and he, well…he saved me from myself. We’ve been working together ever since.”

Zeffer made a small noise of acknowledgement. Though he seemed reluctant, he extended a hand towards Lukas. “I see. I suppose I should thank you for taking care of him then,” he said.

Lukas was just as reluctant as he returned the handshake. He replied, “It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.” Looking around at all the corpses, he added, “I guess I should thank _you_ for doing our dirty work. Some vampiric hag sent us to kill all these folks, but it looks like you were way ahead of us. Let me guess: you got a contract from Aldfog?”

Zeffer quirked his white eyebrows. “What? No, I’m here on my own volition. It’s personal.”

“What business do you have with this clan?” queried Evan.

Letting out a long sigh, Zeffer leaned against a cabinet and explained, “As ironic as it sounds, I’m a vampire hunter. I married into this clan months ago only to betray them all. There used to be seven clans in this forest, but over the years I’ve whittled them down to four. Well, three as of today.”

He glanced up at Evan and continued, “These clans aren’t clever like the Dusks we met so long ago. They’re as stupid and backwater as the enslaved hobs they descend from. If you let me go, I’ll keep cutting them down and down until there are none left.”

“And then what?” asked Evan.

Zeffer shrugged. “Then there will only be one vampire left to kill,” he answered casually.

Every hair on the back of Evan’s neck stood on end. He tackled Zeffer to the floor in an instant, his crew erupting into a flurry of shouts. Lukas and Isaac tried to pry their captain off the vampire, but it was no use. Zeffer was caught in his iron grip, and then he was caught in iron cuffs. Evan pulled a pair of iron shackles from the arsenal on his belt, using them to bind Zeffer’s wrists behind his back.

“Evan, are you crazy?” shouted Lukas. “What are you doing? Let the man go!”

“And let him kill himself? Not a chance!” Evan barked back, forcing Zeffer against the wall.

Zeffer growled, “You’re making a mistake, Evan! Vampirism is a _disease_! Every moment I’m not slaying these abominations, the disease is creating more! Let me go so I can make the world safer for mortals like you! Please, it’s all I can do to atone for my evil deeds in this world!”

Turning away, Evan pulled his steel helmet off and raked his hands over his head. Zeffer continued, “Look. I try not to hunt. I’m a scavenger when I can help it. All of these clans have dungeons somewhere in their lairs. That’s where they keep live prey and store extra blood. I get my fill either by assimilating into these clans or sneaking into their dungeons and taking what I need.”

His expression strained with desperation. “Please,” he went on. “If you don’t let me do this, you’re forcing me to feed from unwilling prey. Don’t make a monster of me, Evan.”

Another heavy silence passed. Finally, Evan turned around and sighed, “Where is the dungeon?”

Tipping his head to the right, Zeffer told him, “There’s a trap door over there. I was trying to find the key when you showed up.”

The mercenaries approached the trap door in the corner of the room. It was a sturdy thing made of oak wood and reinforced with metal strips. A heavy bronze padlock sealed it shut. Lukas turned to Evan and said, “Guess we should start turning this place upside-down then?”

Evan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. Just give me a second,” he muttered, lowering himself into a crouching position before grabbing the lock. He clasped his hands around it, tucking his fingers through the loop. Lukas, Isaac, and Zeffer watched doubtfully as he tried to pull it open.

Evan gnashed his teeth, face turning pink. His arms quivered and he grunted with exertion, yet the lock didn’t budge. After a minute, he let go and stumbled backwards, shaking out his sore hands.

“Gods! That’s a bastard of a lock!” he gasped.

“Hey now, watch that language. There’s a child present,” Lukas teased, smirking at Isaac. The young man stuck his tongue out at him.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Evan panted, “Sorry, Isaac.” He turned to Zeffer and asked, “How long did you live among these people?”

The vampire answered, “About five months, give or take.”

“And you haven’t the _slightest clue_ where they might keep the key to this room?”

“I was still the new guy, okay? The only thing they trusted me with was washing clothes and emptying chamber pots.” Zeffer dropped his head onto his knees, closing his eyes tightly. “Just…start ripping this place up and let me think for a moment.”

The mercenaries began scouring the room from top to bottom, careful to avoid the corpses scattered around. One vampire was pinned to a wooden cabinet by a bolt through her chest. Lukas was forced to wrestle the cold, dead body away to open the cabinet, but found nothing inside anyway.

“You know,” began Lukas, “my mother kept her most important keys hidden under her shirt. Gods knew no one was eager to look there…”

Zeffer suddenly raised his head. He jutted his chin towards the corridor they came from and said, “Wait, check the clan master’s body! He’s the one with the green robe.”

“Yeah, Evan. Go check,” said Lukas, nudging the captain towards the hall. Evan stepped over several corpses to reach him, the elf in the green robe. He flipped the corpse onto its back, gagging when a gush of black blood poured from its mouth, nose, and eyes. A broken bolt was lodged in its forehead. Evan searched his every pocket, but turned up nothing.

Evan seized the corpse’s cotton pajama top and ripped it down the middle. Sure enough, a key was dangling from a leather cord around its neck. “Found it!” Evan exclaimed, holding it up for all to see. Lukas and Isaac offered half-hearted applause.

Before he opened the trap door, Evan turned to Zeffer and asked, “What are we going to find in there, exactly?”

“Probably the same thing we found at the Dusk place,” Zeffer told him flatly. “Brace yourselves. It’s sure to be grisly.”

Evan sighed, staring down at the lock. Then he decided, “Lukas, Isaac, stay up here and keep an eye on Zeffer.”

“Gladly,” replied Lukas, but Isaac grumbled with disappointment as Evan opened the trap door and climbed down the ladder.

The captain disappeared for several minutes. Lukas righted a tipped chair and made himself comfortable while Isaac kneeled beside Zeffer.

“What’s it like being a vampire?” asked Isaac.

Zeffer thumped his head back against the wall. He closed his eyes and told him, “It’s a nightmare, kid. There is no beat in my heart, no warmth to my skin, and nothing to circulate my cursed blood except cursed magic. Some days I have to sleep upside-down just to get it flowing again, otherwise my legs swell up like a bloated corpse. And each night, I have to sate my hunger with the blood of mortals or else be taken by violent insanity. It’s a vile, disgusting state of being. How anyone could revel in this disease is beyond me.”

Isaac wrinkled his nose. “Ew. I didn’t know any of that. I just knew you guys were immortal, and you could turn into smoke and stuff.”

“ _Masters_ can turn into smoke,” Zeffer clarified. “Those are the really old vampires, the ones who’ve been studying black magic since before my grandparents were born.”

“You can’t?”

“No, no. The most I can do is turn into a bat, and only for a few seconds.”

“Can you do it now? I wanna see.”

“Well,” Zeffer sighed, “perhaps I could if I wasn’t so tired. It’s ‘late’ for me, see. I only got up at this hour to catch the Oakenroot at their most vulnerable.” He paused, then added, “Besides, becoming a bat is a pain. You lose everything on your person, including your clothes. Not to mention you become easy prey to falcons, cats, silkbeasts, and gods-knows-what-else in the wilderness. We only do it when we have no other choice.”

Isaac opened his mouth to ask more questions. He closed it when he heard someone climbing up the ladder. The mercenaries expected to see Evan return, but jumped when an unfamiliar head popped up from the doorway.

He was a pale-skinned human with a scraggly beard and unkempt, dirty hair. He was startled when he saw Zeffer, scrambling up with a yelp and bolting bare-naked down the corridor.

Another similar-looking man came out next. He regarded the trio with a wide-eyed stare, then cried, “Don’t hurt me! No more, no more!” as he ran away. A human woman with filthy hair trailed him, then an old man, then four other people before Evan finally returned. The captain stepped out of the dungeon with a heavy burlap sack in his hands.

“Who were they? Prisoners?” asked Lukas.

“Bloodbags,” mumbled Zeffer.

Evan told them, “ _Those_ were some of the missing people from Aldfog. One of them said he’s been captive for four years. Four years! Can you imagine?”

Suddenly they heard a loud squawk, then a series of screams from down the hall. The crowd of prisoners returned in a frenzy, one of them crying, “Monster! Monster! Oh, gods, we’re trapped!”

“Hold on! Calm down, people,” said Evan, approaching them with his palms raised. “That’s just our mount out there. She won’t hurt you and neither will we.”

“There’s snow outside! When did summer pass?” asked one of the women, quivering with cold and panic. Frenzied chatter swelled among them.

Meanwhile, Lukas reached into a cabinet where he found a stash of clothes. He began doling out fur pelts and coats to the naked prisoners as he said, “Aldfog is northeast of here. Keep walking and you’ll eventually find the main road. We’re the Freelance Good Guys, by the way! Tell your friends who saved your hides!”

The prisoners hastily dressed themselves before making their exit. Evan set the burlap sack beside Zeffer. He reached inside and pulled out what looked like an animal’s stomach, stitched shut and filled with red liquid. “Is this what you were looking for?” he queried.

“Yes,” Zeffer mumbled. “Thank you. How much do they have down there?”

Evan jostled the bag. “This is all of it. Somewhere around ten or eleven bags.”

“That’s all?” Zeffer’s white brows sagged. He let out a gruff sigh. “That’ll barely get me through the week…Why did you let the prisoners go?”

Evan tilted his head, asked, “Because that’s what we were hired to do. Even if we weren’t, would you expect us to just leave them there?”

“If you had, I’d be fed for weeks. Possibly months. Now I’ll have to _hunt_ ,” Zeffer said, veinous face twisted into a scowl.

“Are you serious? You’d just feed off them until they starved to death down there?” blurted Lukas.

The vampire snapped back, “What else do you want me to do? Sneak into town and snatch vagrants off the street?” He gestured towards the corridor. “Those people are already ruined. They don’t stand a chance out there anyway. When times get desperate, I’ll meet them on the corner soon enough.”

“Zeffer!” exclaimed Evan. “Are you listening to yourself? What’s happened to you?”

Zeffer writhed in his binds and snarled, “This disease happened, Evan! Do you understand now why I had to leave? I knew you’d be disgusted by what I’ve become! _This_ is why they all have to die, myself included!”

The vampire buried his face between his knees. “We’re not evil by choice,” he continued. “This horrid way of life is the only way we can survive. But unlike the rest of these cretins, I’m dedicating every minute I have towards breaking the cycle. If it takes a thousand years, so be it. I have never infected another person, not even one. I swear to cleanse the region of this plague, but in order to do that, you _must_ let me go.”

Pain strained Evan’s face. Lukas approached him, placed a hand on his steel-plated shoulder and said gently, “We can’t just hold him captive forever. We have two choices: we can put him out of his misery or we can set him free and hope for the best.”

“I don’t care either way,” mentioned Zeffer, leaning back against the wall. “If you decide to kill me, I’d never hold it against you. I’ll always love you, my friend.”

Evan closed his eyes tightly, turning against the wall. There he leaned with his head against his gauntlet for some time, silent in thought. His cohorts waited stiffly, exchanging anxious glances.

Finally, Evan spoke. “The mayor of Aldfog hired us to find the missing townsfolk. In our search, we met an old vampire named Elder Dreamcaller. She asked us to destroy the Oakenroot clan, and in return, she would tell us where the townsfolk are.”

He sighed, shifting his gaze to Zeffer. “I think we already know where they are at this point. How many vampire clans did you say were left in this forest?”

“Just three,” answered Zeffer.

Evan went on, “Then how about this: we’ll help you take out these clans, but you have to promise me something first.”

“Oh, gods…” Zeffer groaned.

Evan finished, “You must promise me that you’ll never take your own life. That’s my only condition.”

The vampire lulled his head to the side, gaze rested wearily on Evan. “And if I refuse?” he queried dully.

“Then I’ll cancel the contract, kill you myself, and those vampires will be left to run amok as they please,” Evan told him.

A tiny smile tugged at Zeffer’s lips. He almost chuckled when he muttered, “Huh. I completely forgot what a stubborn jackass you are. It’s all coming back to me now…”

He paused, then asked, “You _are_ aware that I’m immortal, right? If nothing kills me, I could theoretically survive until Slegelse freezes over, the Body of Gaia rises, and the whole world goes to complete shit. Is that what you want for me? To suffer through the end of times?”

“Knowing you, it’ll never come to that,” began Evan, “It’s a dangerous lifestyle we live, my friend. _I_ don’t expect to see another twenty years. Do you?”

Zeffer was silent for a moment. Then he shook his head and replied, “No. Not really.”

“Then what do you say?”

“I say,” began Zeffer, looking Evan in the eyes, “that I, Zeffer Vengelor, make this promise to my dear friend, Evan Atlas: that I will never take my own life. There. Is that good enough for you?”

Evan smiled, shoulders sinking with relief. “Thank you, Zef,” he said. He released the vampire from his shackles, then together, the four of them set out to fulfill their mission.

*

“I’m not like these backwater hobs. I went to school in Southriver Wood and got a proper education. My mother made sure of that,” Zeffer explained as they walked through the snowy forest. His hood was pulled forward over his head, every inch of his flesh covered to shield him from the sun.

He went on, “You see, most of the vampires out here are ex-slaves that escaped the Evangelites. They expand their clans by kidnapping other slaves. They’re uneducated all the way back to their roots. It wasn’t hard to worm my way in and trick them. Two of these clans, I simply poisoned to death. Others, I crept through their lairs in the daylight hours and assassinated them one by one. It’s really not that hard. Gaining access to their lairs in the first place, that’s the tough part…”

The snow stopped falling, but it had already left a frosty blanket behind. The sun beamed brightly in the clear sky. Zeffer continued, “Elder Dreamcaller has been the biggest thorn in my side. She’s a telepath, so she always knows when I’m coming and blocks the place up like a fortress. I’ll have to start a forest fire to defeat them, and since this forest is what hides me from the Evangelites, I’ve been saving the Dreamcallers for last. Always figured I’d go down with them.”

“We’ll, er…cross the bridge when we get to it,” said Evan. “Who’s next on your list?”

“The Weebit clan. They’re not far from here,” explained Zeffer. “Now, don’t let their size fool you. Last time I tried to sneak into their territory, they sent their squirrels after me. I was nearly gnawed to death! Had to jump in a pond to shake them.”

Lukas raised an eyebrow, almost laughed when he said, “Squirrels? Squirrels aren’t dangerous.”

“They are when there’s over twenty of them!” snapped Zeffer. “Then again, that was a decade ago. I don’t know what kind of tricks the Weebit are up to these days, so be ready for anything.”

The mercenaries moved deeper into the forest. The thicket only became denser, mighty evergreens looming above. Their branches blocked the way and darkened the path. Evan cut through them with his machete, but as he sliced another limb down, he found that he could not pull his blade back up.

It had become caught in a giant spider web. The web was white and glistening, blending in with the snow all around it. It stretched from one trunk to another, as tall as a man and each strand as thick as his finger.

“Ugh, silkbeasts? Really?” groaned Lukas. The group looked ahead and saw more webs in the area. They extended from the ground to the canopy like rope hammocks, some littered with bones and rotting animal carcasses. Lukas looked up at a skeletonized deer hanging high above them. He gestured to it and complained, “Look at this place, it’s _infested_! You’d think the queen would send some guys out to deal with this!”

“Uh, I think she did…” said Isaac, pointing out a cluster of armored human remains. Each corpse was dry and desiccated. Evan picked up a fistful of snow and rubbed it on the end of his stuck blade. With enough scrubbing, the web hardened and broke apart, and his weapon was free from its grasp.

“No matter,” said Evan. “This is a bad season for these beasts. Only two things can destroy their webs, and those are fire and ice. The next time it snows, these things will collapse and they’ll have to build them all over again.”

“True, but they build _fast_ ,” mentioned Zeffer, already making his way through a detour. “I can’t tell you how many campsites I’ve lost to silkbeasts! Step away for so much as a quick piss and they’ll claim your whole tent. Let’s give them a wide berth.”

The mercenaries pushed through the thicket, taking a long detour around the infested path. Eventually, Zeffer crouched before a small clearing. He turned to Isaac, sitting in Shadow’s saddle, and said, “Leave the bird here. If we’re quiet enough, we might be able to sneak up on the Weebit and destroy their castle before they even know what hit them.”

“Destroy an entire castle? How?” asked Evan.

Zeffer pointed towards the clearing. A ring of boulders stood in the center. Evan squinted, and he realized that the boulder in the center had been carved into a rough stone fortress. Its windows and doors were dark and not a sound could be heard from inside.

“They’re all asleep at this hour. Hiding from the sun,” explained Zeffer, pulling his hood further forward. “I’ve got some sticks of dynamite in my satchel. If we can just plant them before the Weebit notice us, that should be the end of it. Oh, I almost forgot! Just a moment…” Zeffer stood up, turning all around to search the bare canopy.

He spotted a crow high in a branch, staring back down at him through glowing green eyes. Swiftly, he loaded a wooden bolt into his crossbow and struck the bird down. It fell into the brush with a soft rustle.

“Hey! What did that crow ever do to you?” blurted Isaac.

Zeffer said, “That was their alarm. Little bastard ratted me out last time.” With that, he reached into his satchel and handed the mercenaries two sticks of dynamite each. The sticks were bright red in color, about as long as a man’s hand.

Evan took his sticks from the vampire and queried, “Zef, why on Gaia do you have _explosives_?”

“They’re left over from one of my old missions,” Zeffer told him. “The Moosehead clan lived in underground tunnels, so I planted a bunch of dynamite and caused a cave-in. None of the Mooseheads survived, but then again, neither did their prey. Wasn’t the smartest plan, I admit…”

Evan let out a hard sigh of disapproval. He and the mercenaries followed Zeffer into the clearing, sneaking towards the ring of boulders. Zeffer tapped Isaac’s shoulder and pointed him to the left, then pointed Lukas to the right. The group surrounded the center boulder on all four sides. Just before they could place their dynamite, a woman’s scream ripped through the silence.

“Help me! Help me! Oh, gods, please help me!” she shrieked. The mercenaries frantically looked all around, but they could not see her. She wailed on and on, and it seemed her noise awakened the Weebit.

Every window in the castle lit up with a green glow. Shortly after, several dozen green eyes lit up in the surrounding trees. A cacophony of angry squirrels began barking and chittering furiously, flicking their bushy red tails.

Zeffer quickly struck a match, leaving a stick of dynamite at the base of the castle before bolting across the clearing. The mercenaries followed without question, the squirrels flooding down from the trees in pursuit. Just after the horde of squirrels passed the castle, the dynamite exploded with a loud boom. Dust and chunks of stone blasted away, destroying a portion of the structure.

The mercenaries stopped at the edge of the clearing, for the brush was too thick to pass through. Isaac jumped in front of his friends and spread his arms protectively around them. “It’s okay! We won’t hurt you, little squirrels!” he called.

The animals came to a stop before them, about three dozen of the little creatures surrounding them in a twitching, chattering semi-circle.

All of their eyes were glowing green with magic. Zeffer watched, brow furrowed in confusion as they stood at a standoff with the squirrels. Then they arched in amazement when Isaac kneeled down with his hand extended, and slowly the animals approached him to sniff his gloved palm.

“Kid, don’t!” warned Zeffer. “They’re enchanted by magic!”

Evan nodded towards Isaac and said, “Yes, but so is the boy. He has a way with beasts.”

The mad squirrel chatter died to silence. Before long, their eyes faded to a natural black color. They shook off their enchantments and dispersed, scampering away into the depths of the thicket. The mercenaries looked back towards the castle. Its foundation was damaged by a gaping hole, long cracks spreading up to its tallest spires.

Lukas sliced off a lock of his long hair with his dagger. He used the lock to tie a stick of dynamite to one of his arrows and said, “Bet you I can land a stick in that hole.”

“How much are we betting?” asked Evan.

“Ten GP.”

“Deal,” Evan agreed, already striking a match. He lit the fuse and the archer let his arrow fly. It landed right in the hole, fuse hissing loudly and lighting up the space with its sparks.

The Weebit did not wait around to be blown up. Rather, three fortunate ones fled the castle on the backs of enchanted bats. These vampires were but tiny gnomes, no more than six inches tall. The mercenaries could see the dramatic flair of their black cloaks as they flew away seconds before the dynamite exploded. The blast took half of the castle with it, sending rocky chunks and gnome corpses flying high into the air.

“Don’t let them escape!” cried Zeffer, pulling the thorny whip from his belt. He lashed it out and struck one bat from the air. The bat and its jockey hit the snow with a tiny splatter of black blood.

Lukas quickly nocked an arrow, striking another bat down just before it fled into the woods. Zeffer made sure to stomp on the fallen jockey as they chased the third bat into the forest.

The brush was thick and nearly impassable. The mercenaries clambered over and under it, enduring the scrape of branches and thorns. It was as if the forest grasped at their armor, desperately holding them back.

As he fought his way through a bramble bush, Zeffer snarled, “Damn it! If there’s even one left alive, it could infect hundreds more!”

“I’ve got a trail on that bat,” Evan assured him, shifting direction. “Come this way!”

Evan’s crew followed as he hacked a path with his machete. They travelled only a short distance before his blade became stuck in a silkbeast’s web.

But so too was the vampiric gnome and its mount, wings flapping helplessly in an expansive web ahead. Evan shot a look back at his crew. “Well? How would you like to handle this?” he queried.

“I’m not going in there,” Lukas told him quickly. “Let the little monster get drained by spiders. The irony is too sweet.”

Zeffer mumbled, “They won’t touch him. Vampire blood’s no good.”

Before they could make a decision, the gnome’s eyes flashed green under the shadow of his tiny hood. Suddenly a silkbeast descended from the treetops, dangling by a thick, glistening web spitting from its abdomen. This massive spider was the size of a pony, covered in thick, bristly brown hairs. All eight of its eyes fixated on the mercenaries, each one glowing green.

It landed on the vertical web and slowly crept its way down, bypassing the gnome completely. It was headed straight towards Evan and his crew. The same idea entered their heads at once, and the mercenaries scrambled to light every stick of dynamite they had. Six hissing sticks flew forth and stuck into the web.

They turned to rush away, but the thicket blocked their path. They didn’t get far before the colossal explosion knocked them on their faces, splintering tree trunks and sending a wave of soil and snow into the air. The silkbeast was ripped apart in an instant. Its many limbs sailed off in different directions.

When the dust settled, the mercenaries cautiously sat up and looked around. The web was gone, reduced to shreds. The gnome had surely disintegrated with it. Dirty snow was scattered all around the damaged trees. Lukas let out a shrill scream when he discovered a silkbeast’s leg lying across his lap. He flung the vile thing aside and shot to his feet, spine quaking with a shudder.

Evan found his machete sticking out of a nearby tree. The force of the blast had caused it to pierce right through the trunk. He yanked it out, cleared his throat and asked, “Think we got him?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s dust,” said Zeffer.

Lukas approached Evan with a hand extended. “Ten GP. Pay up,” he said.

Begrudgingly, Evan reached into his pocket and obliged.

The group returned to the circle of stones. The clearing was scattered with debris and dismembered gnomes. They found no signs of survivors until a woman’s voice shrieked once again, “Please don’t leave me here! Please, please, save me!”

The mercenaries looked around, but yet again they could not see her. “Ma’am, where are you?” called Evan.

“Down here! At your feet!” she called. The mercenaries looked at the crumbling dollhouse-castle, then dropped their gazes further down. At the base of the boulder, they noticed a thin slot half-obscured by snow.

They kneeled before the slot and saw the woman inside. She was a fair-skinned human with dirty hair. They couldn’t see much else in the darkness of her dungeon. Isaac asked, “How did you get in there?”

She explained, “I was just foraging in the forest and—and this bear came out of nowhere! A giant brown bear! It dragged me away and dropped me into a deep pit! I-I followed a tunnel through a door, but it closed behind me and I can’t open it again! I’ve been stuck in here for over a week while those disgusting little hobs steal my blood like leeches! Please, for gods’ sakes, just get me out of here!”

“Where is this tunnel?” asked Zeffer.

“I don’t know!” the woman sobbed. “The door is right behind me, s-so…the tunnel goes that way!”

Zeffer nodded. “Understood. Just hold on, we’ll be back soon.”

The mercenaries crossed the clearing and pushed their way into the woods on the other side. Evan and his machete led the way, at least until he suddenly disappeared with a shout. His crew watched him tumble down into a deep pit just like the woman described. His armor clanged as he hit the bottom, buried by snow. The machete’s blade pierced the snow just a short distance from his hand.

“Shit! You alright, _Amro_?” called Zeffer, peeking over the edge. Evan grunted as he righted himself.

After a quick self-inspection, Evan called back, “I’ll survive! Here…” He took the rope off his belt, the very same he used to climb down into the Oakenroot’s lair, and tossed it to his crew. “Tie this around a tree!”

Zeffer caught the coiled rope and scanned the area for a good trunk. Lukas leaned towards him and advised, “Make it a sturdy one. He’s put on a few pounds over the years.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Zeffer replied quietly.

Evan called up to them, “Come on now, I heard that! I have ears like a dog, remember?”

“Yeah, and you bark like one too!” Lukas teased as Zeffer secured the rope. They tossed the other end into the pit. Zeffer climbed down to join Evan while Lukas and Isaac stayed at the top.

Weapons drawn, Zeffer and Evan made their way into a tunnel. They had to crouch to get through, and the downward slope of the ground got steeper as they moved. By the time they reached the door, they were standing at a precarious angle. They understood then how the door had closed itself behind the woman. It was a heavy thing of metal, perhaps bronze.

“Tread carefully. If you fall in there, I won’t be able to pull your fat ass out,” warned Zeffer, leaning all his weight backwards as he grabbed Evan’s belt.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” grumbled Evan. After a pause, he asked, “Did I hear you call me ‘ _Amro’_ earlier?”

Zeffer hesitated. “It just slipped out,” he admitted quietly.

“Haven’t heard that in a while.” Evan smiled back at him.

Sighing through his nostrils, Zeffer said, “Don’t do this to me. Let’s just rescue the bloodbag, okay?”

Evan braced his feet on the metal frame and pulled the door by its round handle. He jumped with surprise, wobbled and nearly fell in when a white face appeared before him.

“Thank the gods!” the woman cried. Evan and Zeffer reached deep inside and pulled her out. With the help of the mercenaries, she finally escaped the pit. She was all tears when she threw her arms tightly around Evan. Her fur coat was filthy and crusted over with grime. He recoiled and held his breath, for her stench was overpowering.

“I take it you’re from Aldfog?” asked Lukas.

“Yes,” said the woman. “Oh my gods, my family probably thinks I’m dead! I have to get home right now!”

Evan gave her a little push towards the east and said, “Yes, please go. Tell them the Freelance Good Guys rescued you, okay?”

“Freelance Good Guys,” she repeated, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Okay, I certainly will! Thank you so much!”

Evan looked up at the sky. “The day’s still young,” he said, then he turned to Zeffer. “Who’s next on the list?”

Zeffer dragged a palm over his tired face and replied, “Ugh, the Bleeding Heart clan…Let’s get going. I’ll explain on the way.”

*

Beyond the thin layer of clouds, the mercenaries could see the sun tipping just passed its highest point. Zeffer guided them through the forest to their next mission as he explained, “The Bleeding Hearts are the strangest vampires I’ve ever met. They’re all nymphs. Limniads, specifically. And limniads, you know, they need sunlight to survive…”

“But sunlight burns vampires, right?” queried Isaac.

“Right,” said Zeffer. “Even being awake during the day makes us weak. But not the Bleeding Hearts. They never sleep and the sun only makes them stronger, so when we arrive, they’re going to be wide awake and in their prime.”

Lukas asked, “So why don’t we wait until nightfall? We can set up camp and—”

“No, no, this is perfect,” interrupted Zeffer. “See, they spend the daylight hours luring dumb, lustful men into their clutches. These nymphs are all about deceit. They use a guise spell to make themselves look beautiful and a charm spell to reel in prey. Even the most upstanding men struggle to resist them. I staked out their lair for weeks and decided they were too dangerous for me to tackle alone.”

“What’s your plan then?” asked Evan.

“Well,” Zeffer began, “I was going to seek the help of a woman. But a merryman will work just as well.”

Evan quirked an eyebrow. “Are you talking about me? You’re going to…what? Use me as bait?”

Zeffer nodded. “Their charms won’t work on you. It’s our safest bet. Just go in there and pretend you’re interested, be a distraction. See if you can get them all into one location and we’ll snipe them from the trees. The Bleeding Hearts are surrounded by a fortress of thorns, but they keep it open to let the sun in. Last I counted, they had four individuals in their clan. That’s just two shots for two kills, assuming Lukas’ aim is even half as good as mine.”

“This is a terrible idea,” grumbled Lukas.

Zeffer shot him a sharp look and queried, “You got a better one?”

“Lukas, have some faith in Zeffer,” Evan told his friend. “He’s the expert here. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

Lukas opened his mouth to protest. He then closed it, letting out a silent sigh through his nose instead. “Fine,” he said, tossing up his hands. “But if this backfires and something goes wrong…” He pointed to Zeffer. “It’s _his_ head. Hear that, Zef? Evan goes down, _you_ go down. Don’t screw this up.”

Zeffer rolled his red eyes and chuckled, “Try me, friend. I’ll have a bolt in your brain before your arrow leaves its quiver.”

“Guys, that’s enough,” warned Evan. “We need to work as a team here. Isaac, do you see anything up ahead?”

Isaac sat on Shadow’s back, elevated over the brush. The roc cleared a path as she led the way. “I think I see a road,” he reported.

Zeffer said, “That should be the main road out of Aldfog. If anyone asks, just tell them you’re my bondmaster. Let’s leave the bird in the thicket and we’ll stake out a perch above the fortress. Evan, I want you to walk up and down that road until a limniad propositions you. Follow her back to the fortress and we’ll meet you there. Got all that?”

Evan and Isaac nodded, mumbling their acknowledgements. Lukas crossed his arms and said, “I got it. Still sounds like a stupid plan.”

“Just shut up and follow me,” Zeffer told him sharply. The mercenaries parted ways, leaving Shadow in the forest.

Evan walked the icy road for some time. It was quiet and barren, nothing but white snow and black trees ahead and behind. Just as he turned around to walk the other direction, he saw a flash of green. A green-skinned limniad stood on the side of the road, waving her arm to beckon him over.

Evan cautiously approached her. She was lovely in the way that all nymphs were, with flawlessly smooth skin and bright, sparkling eyes of forest-green. Her curly yellow hair was peppered with live clovers that grew from her head. A foxfur cloak was draped over her shoulders, but otherwise she wore nothing, standing barefoot in the snow.

“Where are you going, stranger? Are you lost?” she asked Evan.

“No, just out for a walk,” he told her casually.

A smile spread across her green face. She grabbed his gauntlet and gave it a tug. “It’s too cold to be out here! Why don’t you come back to my castle with me? My sisters and I will get you all warmed up…”

The nymph punctuated herself with a wink. Evan swore he saw her eyes flash with light for a fraction of a second. If she had cast a spell on him then, it was a dud, for he felt no different. But he was sure this was the vampire he was looking for, so he played along and faked a smile back.

“Ah, that sounds lovely. Lead the way, miss,” Evan told her, offering his arm. The limniad took it and pulled him off the road, leading him down a narrow trail into the forest. “You don’t see too many plant nymphs out this time of year,” mentioned Evan. “Aren’t you afraid of the isanae? They’re all over the forest right now.”

The limniad tossed her head back, letting out a hearty laugh. “I don’t fear the isanae. The isanae fear _me_ ,” she told him.

“Oh? And why is that?”

The limniad hugged his arm tighter, planting a kiss on his cheek. “You sure talk a lot for a man,” she said. Evan shrugged and remained silent until they arrived at their destination.

He was caught by surprise when he stepped off the snow and onto lush, green grass. Ahead was a great circular arena made of thorny brambles. The branches were intricately braided together to form walls, some thorns long enough to impale a person all the way through.

Evan’s brows arched. A genuine “Wow,” escaped him, followed by, “you weren’t kidding. The isanae really are afraid of you, aren’t they?”

“They won’t come anywhere near this place,” she said. “You can take off all your clothes in this fortress and you’ll still be plenty warm…”

“That can’t be true. I won’t believe you until I try it for myself.” Evan winked.

“Oh, please do,” the nymph giggled and pulled him through the thorny archway.

Isaac, Lukas, and Zeffer watched from above, perched high in the canopy. Inside the thorny arena was a lush world of color standing against the drab forest. Green leaves and red blooms carpeted the ground. They saw one nymph leading Evan inside and another tending plants across the arena. The other two were unaccounted for.

One giant green bulb sprouted from the ground in the arena. It was topped with flowers, and thorny branches protruded from its sides like the arms of an octopus.

“Damn it,” Zeffer cursed under his breath, eyes rapidly scanning the landscape. “Where are the other two?”

Below, Evan’s nymph friend called to her sister, “Sister, look! We have a visitor!”

The second nymph approached him, just as tantalizing as the first. Her hair was deep red, her head ringed with a crown of roses.

“Ooh, look at him! Such big muscles and lovely veins!” she cooed, drawing her fingertip down his neck. Reaching out to touch his steel gauntlet, she quickly drew her fingers back as if it burned her and said, “Ugh, but this _iron_! Why don’t you take off all this nonsense and stay a while, handsome?”

Evan tried to keep his eyes away from the treetops. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to his crew. “Sure,” he said. “But, uh, surely it isn’t just you two living in this grand place? Don’t your sisters want in on the fun?”

The nymphs shared a glance, then laughed. “You think two of us aren’t enough to satisfy you? My, my, aren’t you greedy!” said the clover-nymph.

The rose-nymph began unbuckling his gear belt as she explained, “You’ll meet our sisters later. They’re going to have _lots_ of fun with you…”

Evan’s belt hit the ground, and with it, all of his weapons and gear. The clover-nymph’s fingers groaned quietly as they began to extend, elongating like stems. “In the meantime, we’re going to play our favorite game!”

Evan stepped back. “What game is that?” he asked, steadying the anxiousness in his voice. He threw a look around him, searching for the other limniads. Somehow, he either had to lure them outside or stall until they showed themselves.

The clover-nymph told him, “The game where we tie you up, strip you down, and do what we please with you. Doesn’t that sound fun?” She reached for his hand and clasped his fingers in hers. Her tendril-like fingers wrapped around his wrist as the other nymph fumbled with the straps of his armor.

“Aw, come on, ladies,” he said, gesturing up and down his torso. “You really don’t want to share with your sisters? There’s so much of me to go around!”

“There most certainly is,” giggled the rose-nymph.

Evan’s hands were bound behind his back with thick plant fibers—fibers that were once the clover-nymph’s fingers. The clover-nymph jerked her arm back and ripped those fingers right off. Evan saw them quickly growing back as she unbuckled one of the straps on his chestplate. The heavy plate dropped, exposing a gray woolen sweater beneath.

Lukas leaned closer to Zeffer and whispered, “This is going too far! You shoot the red-head and I’ll take care of the blonde.”

“No, we have to wait,” replied Zeffer. “If we strike too soon, they’ll lock down or flee, and then we won’t have a chance. We have to get them all at once.”

Lukas shook his head, letting out a gruff sigh.

The rose-nymph plucked a dagger from Evan’s discarded belt and used it to cut his sweater open. He winced as she sliced the fabric from his waist to his throat. “Oh my! That’s _a lot_ of hair,” she remarked, lowering the dagger. Evan glanced down at the carpet of hair on his chest and began to sweat, despite the cold air around him.

He forced a chuckle and said, “Is that a problem? I thought ladies liked a little ruggedness.”

“Rugged, yes. But an actual rug? We’ll need some convincing,” the clover-nymph teased, planting kisses down the side of his face. Her lips were icy-cold like those of a corpse.

Perhaps they didn’t suspect his lycanthropy yet, for the rose-nymph moved in shortly and they both claimed either side of his neck with kisses.

Evan’s eyes drifted upward while they were occupied, scanning the treetops. Isaac waved and caught his attention, but Zeffer quickly pulled his hand down and hissed, “Don’t! The other vampires might be watching!”

“I don’t even see them! We have to do something or they’re gonna bite Evan!” Isaac hissed back.

“He’s a commoner, it won’t kill him,” Zeffer assured him.

“But that thing might!” said Lukas, pointing to the giant bulb behind their captain. Its great, thorny tentacle began to twitch, undulating like a snake. It was slowly creeping towards the lycanthrope as the nymphs distracted him.

Evan glanced around anxiously, trying to think of a plan. He never noticed the thorny tendril sneaking up behind him. Suddenly the rose-nymph jerked away, stumbling a few paces back.

Evan’s eyes rounded when he noticed a silver arrow piercing through the side of her head. The clover-nymph gasped, watching in horror as her sister collapsed on her back.

The rose-nymph convulsed a little, black blood gushing from her nose and mouth. Turning her back to Evan, the clover-nymph screeched, “We’re under attack! Lockdown! Lockdo--!”

The next word was silenced by a silver arrow, flying straight into her mouth and through the back of her skull. The moment their corpses hit the ground, the nymphs dropped their magical guises. Their beauty faded, leaving grey, mottled flesh behind.

Evan suddenly found himself hanging upside-down. The tendril wrapped around his ankle and lifted him high in the air. He flailed and screamed, but it was too late, for the top of the bulb opened like a mouth and swallowed him whole.

Lukas let out a string of curses. Zeffer seized him by the wrist and growled, “This is _your_ fault, you idiot! I told you to wait!”

“Wait for what? That thing to eat him?” Lukas snapped, throwing a hand towards the bulb. “It was about to happen anyway!”

“Quick, quick, we gotta cut it open and get him out!” cried Isaac.

“Stop panicking! He’s in no danger, it’s just a normal plant,” Zeffer urged them, “But someone is manipulating it with magic. That means the other Bleeding Hearts must be lurking nearby. I need you both to stay quiet while I think of a plan.”

Lukas rolled his eyes. “Right, because your first one worked _so_ well…”

“It would have if _you_ didn’t fuck it up!”

“There was nothing to fuck up! It was a fucked up plan from the start!”

Like angry cats, the two hissed and spat at eachother for some time. Isaac pressed his fingers into his ears and turned away from their bickering, closing his eyes in thought. The three of them alone could not raid the fortress, not with the hostile bulb-creature guarding it. They would be snatched up and swallowed the moment they arrived.

“…Don’t you dare pin this on me!” Lukas growled at Zeffer. “You’re the one who threw Evan at those bloodthirsty nymphs! You didn’t even think twice about it!”

“We worked together for years! I know what the man can and can’t handle!” argued Zeffer.

Lukas thrusted a finger in his face and retorted, “Apparently you don’t! Because if you did, he wouldn’t be trapped in a fortress full of vampires, would he? Now we have a hostage situation!”

“There are only two left!” Zeffer hissed through his teeth. “We can save him, we just—”

Zeffer silenced himself. He and Lukas looked to the branch beside them, where Isaac had begun loudly singing a song.

“ _From the mountains to the trees,_

_In the lakes and in the seas,_

_Friends of birds and honeybees,_

_You will see, you will see…”_

“Isaac, be quiet! What are you doing?” Lukas whispered. Isaac just shot him a sidelong, regretful kind of look and continued to sing to any isanae who may hear him, and surely alerted the vampires too.

“ _From the mouths of volcanoes,_

_Every time the wind blows,_

_Thank your garden when it grows,_

_You will know, you will know_ …”

“Isaac!”

“Stop that!” Lukas and Zeffer blurted at once. They swiped for the young man, but he jumped to another branch and sang on,

“ _Mother Gaia is alive,_

_So help her daughters to survive,_

_Open your arms when they arrive,_

_And you will thrive, you will thrive…”_

Lights flickered in the depths of the white forest. Dozens of blue eyes blinking, white lashes fluttering, soft voices giggling.

Isaac continued,

_“In the fortress they attend,_

_Two wicked nymphs to apprehend,_

_It’s Mother Gaia they offend,_

_So put their evil to an end, to an end, to an end!”_

Silence fell over the forest. Isaac waited for a response, steam gusting from his mouth as he met the many stares of the isanae. An instant later, a puff of black smoke exploded behind him.

He jumped with a fright, nearly losing his balance on the branch. A nymph materialized in the smoke, though she was unlike any nymph the mercenaries had ever seen.

Red eyes glared back at Isaac, glowing brightly under the shadow of the conifers. Her flesh was not healthy and green like her sisters’, but grey and plagued with black veins like Zeffer’s. The flowers in her ash-colored hair were skeletonized to dry stems.

Her clawed fingers reached for Isaac. She grasped him around the throat and with unexpected strength and slammed him against the trunk of the conifer. Her glare shifted to Zeffer and Lukas, perched on a nearby branch. Both of them already had their weapons drawn on her.

“Kill me and they’ll kill you!” Isaac croaked under her grip.

“Kill _me_ and my sister will kill your friend,” she hissed, tipping her head towards the fortress. Isaac froze under her grip, raising his palms in surrender.

“If your sister kills our friend, we’ll kill her,” Lukas shot back.

Finger tightening around his crossbow trigger, Zeffer added, “You won’t win this. Release our men and I promise we’ll be merciful. Otherwise you’ll damn well regret it.”

The vampiric nymph stared the mercenaries down in silence. Isaac glanced between her and his crew, hands quivering in the air. He felt her claws piercing into his neck, teeth gnashing as blood trickled from the shallow punctures.

A chorus of voices swelled from below. They were high and feminine, singing their ghostly song in perfect harmony. The vampire and the mercenaries dared to break their staredown to look back at the fortress. A crowd of isanae—thirty, at least—were boldly approaching the arched entrance.

Their glittering, white feet left frosty prints wherever they stepped, freezing the green grass below. The snow and frost slowly began encroaching on the vampires’ sanctuary as they closed in.

Isaac assailant released his throat. She whirled around and shouted to the isanae, “No! Get away from there! Take one more step and I’ll bite every last one of you!”

The isanae’s tune broke into a flurry of giggles. They danced and twirled around the arena, taunting the vampire above.

“You wretched whores!” the vampire bellowed, quaking with rage. She disappeared in a puff of smoke, and just a moment later, reappeared beside an isanae in the arena. The others shrieked and scattered as the corrupted limniad seized the isanae by her fine, white hair. She pulled her victim’s head back to expose her neck, fangs gleaming.

A silver bolt shot through the vampire’s throat. She dropped the isanae and staggered back. Less than a second later, an arrow pierced through her skull and she hit the ground. Her victim scrambled away from the hideous corpse and looked up at the mercenaries in the tree. All three of them were rushing down its trunk.

The trio ran through the entryway, converging with the isanae in the fortress. “Be careful, there’s still one left!” Zeffer warned them. Then, as if on cue, the great bulb began to twitch. Its many thorny tendrils lifted high into the air.

“Get down!” shouted Lukas, tackling Isaac to the ground just as a tendril swept over them. It struck four isanae, long thorns piercing right through their bodies. The other isanae broke into a riot, rushing the bulb all at once.

They attacked its tough, green flesh with fists and feet, each strike leaving frost in its wake. Another tendril raised high and slapped down. Zeffer rolled out of the way, but two isanae were not so quick, and were impaled on the thorns.

The bulb aimed its third tendril with care and rammed it against the mob. Isanae shrieked as they were swatted away like flies, some impaled and stuck upon the tendril as it pulled back for another strike.

But it seemed no such thing harmed the isanae, for those that had been impaled were still attacking. They exerted their magic and frost crept from their bodies, over the thorns and down the tendrils.

Before long, the tendrils were frozen in place, completely encased in gleaming ice. The impaled isanae casually pulled themselves from the spikes and dropped to the ground.

The spikes left gaping holes in their bodies. The isanae simply swiped handfuls of snow to fill them, then joined their mob of sisters attacking the bulb. Lukas, Isaac, and Zeffer picked themselves up and watched, weapons drawn

A thick layer of ice was quickly spreading over the bulb from the bottom to the top. Just before it reached the mouth at the top, something small and black shot out. It was a screeching bat, speeding away into the sky.

Lukas and Zeffer fired at once. Each shot would have landed, had bolt and arrow not crashed into eachother.

“Get it, get it!” panicked Isaac. Collectively, the isanae faced the bat and raised their glowing hands above their heads. Long, thin icicles shot down from the treetops like hail. One of them struck the bat and it fell behind the wall.

The mercenaries hurried outside the fortress. They circled its great walls until they found exactly what they were looking for: the fourth and final Bleeding Heart.

She was staggering to her feet as she pulled an icicle out of her chest. It came out with a gush of black blood. She opened her mouth to shout something at the mercenaries, then Zeffer plugged it with a silver bolt.

At last, the Bleeding Heart clan was defeated.

Lukas pulled the machete off his hip, sliced it clean through her neck, then tossed her head over the wall into the arena. Rather than shrieks of terror, they heard cheers of delight from inside.

With no limniads left to support it, the living fortress rapidly began to die. The thorny walls turned black and rotted before the mercenaries’ eyes. They walked over the pile of slimy decay back into the arena, its once green flora now covered with snow and ice.

The bulb, too, had rotted into slime. But Evan was nowhere to be found.

The trio rushed towards the site and dropped to their knees, frantically clawing at the pile of decayed vegetation. As they suspected, a wooden trap door lie underneath. It was sealed off with a hefty piece of lumber stuck between two metal loops. When Isaac pulled the lumber away, Zeffer opened the door and Lukas hoisted Evan out of the deep pit below.

“Where would you be without us, huh?” quipped Lukas.

Evan shook his head and told him, “There’s more victims down there. A lot of them.”

One by one, the mercenaries helped eleven human males crawl out of the pit. All of their hands were bound by plant fibers except for Evan, who had broken his binds with lycanthrope strength. The captain slipped his armor back on as his crew spoke with an isanae.

“An evil affliction plagues this forest,” she explained. “It corrupted some of our sisters, as you could see. Instead of taking responsibility and doing away with themselves, they reveled in their sickness and defied the will of our Mother! No limniad is meant to reign in winter! That is _our_ season to claim, and they selfishly took it for themselves year after year!”

“Well, they’re feeding the worms now,” mentioned Lukas.

The isanae nodded. “As they should be! Thank you for returning this land to us, gentlemen. We will not let this treachery happen again.”

Isaac asked, “Thanks for what? You guys did all the heavy lifting.”

“We were afraid for so long,” she said. “We feared the disease, feared that with each sister claimed, their territory would only grow. So we stayed away and shamefully allowed their heinous behavior to continue. But when we saw the first sister fall to your arrow, we thought we may have a chance after all.”

A smile crossed her white lips. “Your lovely song brought us courage. It reminded us of our purpose. Men pillage the forest and treat us nymphs as an inconvenience, an obstacle to be overcome. When we speak to men, we speak their tongue, whatever it may be. But so rarely do they speak to us in ours.”

Isaac winced. “I mean, I tried. Sorry it sounded so bad,” he said.

The isanae laughed, “It’s the character of your soul that matters to us, not the sound of your voice. Most men don’t speak to us at all, much less listen to us.” Her eyes flicked up at the other mercenaries. “Never forget the language of music. So long as you have that, you know you still have a soul.”

*

The mercenaries peeked over the wall of snow surrounding the old cottage. Smoke was wafting up in a steady stream from the chimney.

“I guess sneaking in through the chimney is out of the question,” said Lukas.

Zeffer told them, “The elder knows we’re here. I guarantee they’ve already blockaded the door too, and I’m all out of explosives...”

He tugged his hood forward and continued, “We’ll have to burn the house down. Goblins are much more sensitive to the sun than other vampires—they’ll turn to ash the moment they try to escape. Assuming the roof doesn’t collapse on them first…”

“Zeffer,” began Evan, “I’ve put my faith in you throughout this whole venture, and I’ve supported every decision you’ve made thus far. But I cannot support this. This is an absolute _mess_ of an idea.”

“Wow, did I just hear some common sense? Finally!” cried Lukas.

Zeffer argued, “It’s the only way, Evan! I’ve been plotting the Dreamcallers’ demise for over a decade. If there was a better solution, don’t you think I would have tried it by now? It’s the dead of winter and everything is damp. The fire couldn’t possibly spread far.”

“That isn’t my concern,” said Evan. “What about all the captives in the dungeon? This isn’t right. We have to find some way to spare them.”

Zeffer shook his head. “We have no choice. Elder Dreamcaller can sense every idea we’re sharing right now, so we have to act quickly before she outsmarts us. That whole cottage and everything inside it has to go down. It’s for the greater good of Noalen.”

Evan looked towards the cottage. It stood innocuously against the backdrop of the snowy forest, quaint and serene. But the vampires inside were surely panicking, surely plotting just as the mercenaries were, devising a way to end this stalemate.

“We operate by a code of ethics,” Evan told Zeffer. “Harm no innocents, help those in need, and kill only in necessity.”

“Ah, what a privilege to have _ethics_ ,” Zeffer replied with a roll of his red eyes.

Evan finished firmly, “We were hired to bring those captives home, so that’s what we’re going to do. Now get your mind off these fatalistic ideas and let’s start thinking of a real solution. If we have to sit here until nightfall and fight those vampires face-to-face, so be it.”

The trio huddled together behind the wall of snow, discussing their next move. They paid Shadow little mind as she wandered the area, pecking around for food in the forest.

She saw a wild rabbit dart by and chased it into the clearing. The creature eluded her grasp when it disappeared into its burrow under the cottage. Then Shadow found herself facing the tantalizing roof of straw once more.

The mercenaries paused their discussion when they heard a hammering sound. Peeking over the wall once more, they spotted Shadow standing on top of the cottage to peck at its roof. She pulled more straw away with each pull, gathering a fat bundle in her beak.

Evan nearly scolded Isaac for not keeping an eye on his pet. Then his furrowed brow arched as a better idea crossed his mind. “Wait a minute! Isaac, is Shadow strong enough to destroy that roof?”

“She’s strong enough to destroy mine…” mumbled Lukas.

Isaac replied with a shrug, “Let’s find out.” Then he turned to the bird and called, “Shadow, hold!”

The roc snapped to attention, dropping the straw in her beak. Her massive, sharp talons pierced through the layers of straw and clutched the wooden beams of the structure below.

“Lift off!” commanded Isaac. With an excited screech, Shadow’s mighty wings stretched out and dwarfed the cottage beneath her. She beat them furiously, pulling at the domed roof as if it were a gazebo full of crewmen.

Beams groaned and splintered with a series of loud cracks. Within seconds, Shadow was hovering above the cottage with its entire roof clutched in her talons. The mercenaries rushed to the scene. They could hear screams and panic from the vampires inside the building.

“Shadow, drop it!” Isaac ordered, and Shadow dropped the roof in the snowy clearing. It broke apart on the ground. “Now attack!” He commanded, pointing at the cottage.

Without hesitation, Shadow landed on one of the house’s damaged stone walls. She stooped over, the front half of her body disappearing behind the wall, and the mercenaries could only imagine the bloody chaos happening inside. They saw only the roc’s wings flapping above, heard her aggressive crowing and the screams of her victims.

The front door flew open. A goblin escaped, dashing passed the mercenaries with the swiftness of a deer. They knew it was Elder Dreamcaller, for they recognized her white cloak. She was running across the clearing towards the shady forest.

She didn’t get far. The elder collapsed on top of the sloping wall of snow with an arrow in her calf and a bolt in her back, rolling down the other side. The mercenaries rushed over the wall to finish her off.

They found her writhing belly-up on the ground, face exposed to the open sky. Despite the ice around her, her face and hands sizzled as if boiling from the inside out. Isaac shielded his eyes in disgust, the others unable to look away as the vampire’s flesh melted, blackened, and then crumbled away. Before long, Elder Dreamcaller was but a white robe full of black ash.

Isaac heard heavy footsteps crunching through the snow behind him. He turned, jumped with a yelp as Shadow dropped the top half of a corpse before him. Black entrails snaked out from its torso, exposed flesh sizzling in the sunlight. The roc’s beak was glistening with black vampire blood.

Isaac swallowed back his disgust. “Uh…G-good job, Shadow…Good birdie…” he praised, patting her feathered head. Shadow puffed out her chest with pride and strutted back towards the cottage. The mercenaries followed, passed through its open door and found a third vampire corpse lying eviscerated on the floor, as well as the bottom half of the second one.

“That’s all of the Dreamcallers,” said Zeffer. A smile was creeping across his gray lips. He shook his head and almost laughed, “I can’t believe it. They’re gone. All of the clans, they’re gone!”

“All in one day too,” mentioned Lukas. “How’s _that_ for professionalism?”

Evan added, “We couldn’t have tracked them all down without Zeffer’s help, much less know how to deal with them. If only every job went as smoothly as this!” He offered a smile to Zeffer and extended his hand for a shake. “It’s been a pleasure working by your side again, my friend.”

“The pleasure is mine,” said Zeffer, returning the handshake. His hold lingered a little too long, gaze drifting anxiously to his boots. He chewed his lip for a moment as if considering something. Suddenly he pulled Evan into a tight embrace.

Lukas and Isaac glanced at eachother, then decided to give the two a moment of privacy as they began searching for the dungeon.

Evan squeezed his old friend back. He felt the vampire trembling against him, felt cold tears against his cheek, heard breath hitching with soft sobs as Zeffer told him, “I missed you so much. More than you’ll ever know.”

“Oh, Zef…” Evan groaned. He rubbed the back of Zeffer’s head, mindful not to pull his hood away. He felt the vampire’s mouth press against his neck—not to bite, but to deliver a line of kisses before pulling away.

Evan kept a hold on his gloved hands, squeezed tighter and said quietly, “Come back with me.”

Zeffer shook his head, face obscured in the shadow of his hood. “I can’t…”

“You can,” Evan insisted. “I’ll forge bondmaster documents and smuggle you out of the kingdom. It isn’t hard, I’ve done it before.”

“Yeah? And then what?”

“Then you can stay with me while we build you a house in the village. I can’t promise anything fancy, but it’ll be a place of your own! Not an inn room or a—”

“Evan, come on…” Zeffer sighed, scrubbing at his weary eyes. “You’re just as naïve as you were twenty years ago. Whatever happy ending you’re thinking of, part of you has to know it just isn’t possible.”

Evan cocked his head. “What do you mean? I don’t keep bad company, Zef. No one would hold your affliction against you. If they have a problem with it, they can take it up with me.”

“So how many of them are willing to pay my blood-tithe?” Zeffer asked bitterly. Evan fell silent. He couldn’t think of an answer before Zeffer continued, “Right. And gods know your mongrel blood is no good for me. Give it a week and I’ll go mad with bloodthirst. I’ll terrorize your peaceful little village until someone is forced to put me down. _That_ is why I can’t go with you. Creatures like me have no place in civilized society.”

“But you can’t kill yourself either. You promised,” mentioned Evan, perhaps only to reassure himself. “If you won’t come with me, then where will you go? What will you do? Please, we can think of something! You can’t stay out here in Evangeline slave country!”

Zeffer replied, “I don’t intend to. Once the bloodbags dry up, I’m leaving this region behind for good. All the clans are dead and I didn’t find a single Dusk among them, so it’s time to look elsewhere.”

“Dusk? You mean…?”

“Lilian Dusk, that little bitch who turned me,” Zeffer spat. “I’ve decided I’m going to spend the rest of my immortal life looking for her. I know it’s a long shot. Maybe even impossible. But I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

The vampire glanced at Lukas and Isaac. They were tearing the cottage apart, probably in search of a key to the trap door they exposed under a rug. Then he looked Evan in the eyes and said, “I’ll break Lilian’s heart as she broke mine. I’ll rip it right out of her chest and sacrifice her to become mortal. Only then will I wish to see you again.”

Evan’s face hardened with grief and doubt. It burdened his voice when he asked, “What if I’m long gone by then? Don’t do this, Zeffer! Please don’t leave me again! We can work something out, please…!”

Lukas turned over a vase and a key fell out, clattering on the floor. He used it to unlock the trap door, then he and Isaac disappeared down the ladder.

Zeffer’s expression looked just as pained as Evan’s. Still he forced himself to face the lycanthrope, brought his hands to Evan’s cheeks and wiped away his tears. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” he said quietly. “Just be thankful you’re getting a proper goodbye this time.”

Evan let out a long, shuddering sigh of defeat. He leaned forward and trapped Zeffer in one last embrace. Before he pulled away, he muttered directions to Drifter’s Hollow in the vampire’s pointed ear. Zeffer showed him a solid nod.

Then just like that, he disappeared with the cold breeze.

Near the back of the room, naked prisoners were crawling out of the trap door. Lukas and Isaac were the last to exit the dungeon. They exchanged words with each of the captives as they rummaged through the cabin for their clothes. There were six of them total.

In minutes, the captives were wrapped in cloaks and furs, ready for the long trek home. Evan stood alone in the entryway, staring out the open front door. He jumped when he felt something being snatched from his back pocket. He turned around and saw Lukas walking away with the red glove they found earlier.

Lukas returned it to its apparent owner, a bearded man who was pulling a matching glove onto his hand. “Thank you, fellas, thank you so much,” said the man. His voice was hoarse with exhaustion, flesh as pale as the snow.

“This hobgoblin approached me on my way to the lumberyard, just before sunrise,” he explained. “Said his bondmaster died out in the woods and he needed help. Next thing I know, I’m fightin’ off two other hobs and one of ‘em stuck me with somethin’, like a poison dart! Next thing I know, I woke up in there.”

He pointed to the trap door. “Worst mistake of my life, trustin’ a damn spell-lobber! I should have known better! Three weeks of my life wasted away in this shit-pit, and who knows how much longer it would’ve been if you hadn’t come along?”

The man gestured to another man, silently slipping a boot onto his foot, and said, “That fella says he’s been down there for two whole months! Those sick hobs were cuttin’ us open and suckin’ our blood down like wine! Vampires in Aldfog, can you believe it? Does that worthless mayor of ours know about this?”

“He will once we get back to town,” replied Lukas.

A quivering woman stepped towards him and asked, “What can be done? H-how many more of these h-horrid creatures do you think are lurking around here?”

“None,” Evan said quickly, firmly. He looked the woman in the eye and told her, “We took care of them. Every last vampire in Timberland Forest is gone, I assure you. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

The prisoners finished dressing, exchanged words of gratitude to the mercenaries, and then left through the open doorway. The trio of mercenaries lingered behind to rest for a moment, collapsing on the bloodstained furniture.

Isaac turned this way and that. “Where’s Zeffer?” he asked.

Evan leaned forward in the clan elder’s rocking chair. He buried his face in his hands and muttered, “He’s gone.”

“Gone where?” asked Isaac.

“I asked him to settle with us in Drifter’s Hollow, but he’s decided to waste his life on a fool’s quest instead. I wish him the best, but…”

Evan dropped his hands between his knees and leaned back in the chair. He shook his head as he finished, “I’m not as naïve as he thinks I am. I gave him our coordinates anyway. You know, in case there’s some miniscule chance he’ll change his mind. But I know how he is, and I’m not holding my breath.”

Lukas’ jaw dropped. “You what? Why would you tell him where we live?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Evan, he’s a homicidal maniac! He drinks blood for Gaia’s sake! Do you really want a vampire skulking around the Hollow?”

Evan scowled in offense and said, “I hope you’re not implying what I think you are! Zeffer would never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

“You know that’s a lie,” Lukas snapped back, thrusting a finger towards the captain. “Like it or not, he’s a danger to society! He said it himself: he could go mad with hunger and attack any one of us!”

Suddenly on his feet, Evan whipped the old chair across the room. Isaac flinched as it broke against the stone wall. The captain roared, “The same could be said about me, yet you still walk by my side! If you think me such a monster, then fucking leave me! You wouldn’t be the first and you won’t be the last!”

Isaac curled up in his plush chair, frozen by fear. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Evan lose his temper like this. Meanwhile Lukas was barely fazed, rolling his eyes at his raging friend.

He replied, “I didn’t say a damn thing about you! We’re talking about vampirism, not lycanthropy. They’re hardly the same thing; you should know that better than anyone, you oaf!”

Steam gusted from Evan’s nostrils with each heavy breath. His face was pink with rage, eyes wide in fear and wet with grief. Isaac’s nervous grip slowly loosened on the arms of his chair. The captain wasn’t angry, he realized. He was _scared_.

Lukas stared Evan down in that hard, antagonistic way he always did when he was at odds with someone. Isaac wished he wouldn’t. He wished the archer would say something kind for once. But he knew Lukas would cut off his own nose to spite his face, would sooner die than show his belly for even a second.

So Isaac took the burden upon himself. Swallowing his fear, he faced Evan and creaked, “You’re a good person, Evan.”

The lycanthrope blinked, turning towards Isaac. His scowl softened in surprise.

Isaac continued, “Don’t be scared, okay? You’re our friend. We’re not gonna leave you.”

Though he was shaking with rage just seconds before, all the excitement of the day seemed to hit Evan at once. His emotions dissipated like smoke. He wanted so badly to collapse back into his chair, nearly did so until he realized it was lying in pieces across the room.

He pressed his back against the wall instead and sighed, “Thank you, Isaac. I’m very sorry. I’m just…” He paused for a long moment, staring solemnly at the floor. It was beginning to snow again, tiny white flakes drifting into the open roof of the cottage.

Finally he pushed himself off the wall and decided, “Forget it. Let’s go collect our payment and put this job behind us. You both did great work today.” He offered the best smile he could muster in his grief. “You handled that bird nicely too, boy. If you can teach her to tear roofs off, maybe you can teach her to put them back on?”

Isaac smiled back. “Sure. Right after I teach her to shit in a litter box.”

“Hey now! Language,” Evan warned, snatching the toque off Isaac’s head. He gave the young man a good-natured slap with it. Isaac snatched the hat back as he stood up, then the trio made their way out of the cottage.

Shadow waited for them outside. Isaac climbed onto her saddle, leading the way back through the thicket to the main road.

*

The mayor of Aldfog promised to pay the Freelance Good Guys for every victim they found—alive or dead. He never expected so many to return, much less alive, and begrudgingly parted with a bulging sack of coin that evening.

The mercenaries spent a portion of it at the tavern, drinking all night and then passing out in a luxuriant inn room. They woke late in the afternoon and made their way to the dragonport, arriving back in Drifter’s Hollow just as dinner began.

Their crew was still setting the long table when they walked through the doors. A fire crackled in the hearth, the air pungent with the smell of baking bread and searing meat. “Oh, look who’s back!” exclaimed Linde, carrying a pot of soup to the table. “You guys finished the job already?”

“We had a little extra help,” Evan admitted vaguely. He and the others took their usual seats and began to feast.

“So, tell us about the trip,” urged Alaine. “What happened to all the people? God, it wasn’t the Sovereign, was it?”

Evan shook his head. “No, no. It was, uh…it was vampires.”

Gasps and amused chatter circled the table. “Vampires? Really? Ugh, what revolting creatures! They make me sick to my stomach,” said Skel, green nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Ya took ‘em all out, right? That shite spreads, ya know. Leave one vampire alive ‘n before ya know it, ya got ten more,” asked Glenvar.

Piling his plate high with meaty drumsticks, Evan replied flatly, “We took care of it, trust me. The whole job was a nightmare. I’d rather not talk about it…”

Glenvar shot him a strange look. “That bad, huh? Yikes. Usually when ya come back from a job, ya can’t shut up about it,” he said, then filled his mouth with a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

“No war stories from Papa Atlas? Aww, but how will I sleep tonight?” teased Javaan. Balthazaar let out a juvenile giggle from across the table.

Evan couldn’t force a smile, not even for their sake. “Not in the mood, guys,” he muttered.

“Well, I’m in a decent mood for once, so I’ll tell you all this,” began Lukas. “If it weren’t for Evan’s lycanthropy, we couldn’t have accomplished a damn thing on that job. He sniffed out those missing people like a hound. That nose of his led us straight to the vampires’ lair, way, way out in the godforsaken wilderness.”

Isaac quickly swallowed a bite, nearly choked as he added, “Yeah, really! And if he wasn’t a lycanthrope, the vampires wouldn’t have trusted us. They probably would’ve killed us the second we walked in. But we made a deal with this vampire telepath, and then we betrayed her. We couldn’t have done any of it if it weren’t for Evan.”

Alaine raised her hairless brows. “Wow, talk about the right man for the job!” she said, facing Evan. “And you were all paranoid about taking contracts in Evangeline Kingdom! Aren’t regretting it now, are you?”

Evan sucked down his entire stein of beer, wiped the froth from his lips and told her sullenly, “I’m still not sure. Ask me again a few drinks from now.”

The crew exchanged stories and jokes over dinner, discussing memories, their victories and foibles, and debating matters that hardly mattered at all. By the end of it, Evan staggered out of the dining hall as drunk as the day was long. He remained silent as the others prattled on. He said nothing more about the contract, hadn’t mentioned Zeffer at all.

In truth, he wished he could forget the whole encounter with his dear old friend. Being abandoned a second time was just too much to bear, and that was the reason he slumped himself over Javaan’s equine back as the centaur carried him home. He was much too drunk to make the trip on his own.

Evan closed his eyes on the ride. When he opened them, he was lying on the couch in his sitting room. A candle flickered on the mantle, but otherwise the room was as dark as the night sky outside the window. He saw a familiar face looking down at him, just barely lit in a soft, orange glow.

“Zef…” Evan slurred, reaching towards the person.

“I’m _Lukas_ , you boozer,” said the face, slapping his reaching hand away. Lukas draped a fleece blanket over him, then disappeared from his view. Evan heard him say, “Yell for Isaac if you need something. Bucket’s right there on the floor, and don’t fall asleep on your back.”

With that, his voice and the world faded away.

*

Lukas spent all night fixing up his botched painting of the Twisted Canyons. He cleaned up the last of the damage just before sunrise, and now it was time to add the fine details. Just as he reached for his tiny brush, the entire treehouse quaked.

Lukas shot up from his stool. He caught the canvas just before it toppled over, lying it carefully on the floor. He burst through his door to the balcony and found exactly what he expected: Shadow hammering her beak against his roof of straw.

“Shadow! God damn you!” the archer shouted. His broom was leaning against the side of the house, its broken handle strapped together with cotton strips. Lukas swiped it and began climbing the ladder to his roof.

Shadow dug her talons in, bracing herself for a fight. She raised her great wings high and let out a loud, threatening squawk. Lukas called her bluff. He stood calmly before her, regarding her with a long, silent stare. The reaction confused the bird. She tilted her head this way and that, swaying nervously. Anxious crows rumbled from her throat.

She expected him to start shouting obscenities and swing the broom at her like he always did. Instead, Lukas extended its bristly end in peace.

“Here, look,” he said, “this thing has plenty of straw on it. Like throwing a virgin to a volcano to buy peace from the gods, I offer this broom to you if you promise to leave my house alone. What do you say?”

Shadow tilted her head, examining the offering. Her pupils shrank and expanded within her yellow irises. She hesitated for a long moment as if struggling to trust him. Finally, she gingerly plucked the broom from his grip.

Lukas planted a hand on his hip, pointing his other finger firmly at her face when he said, “Alright then. That’s a deal, understand? And if you break your end of the bargain, I’ll grind you up and feed you to the chickens.”

Lukas doubted this animal understood a word he said, but he hoped his actions would speak loud enough. Shadow was more intelligent than the average beast, that much was obvious. She was smart enough to pretend she was dumb when she didn’t want to obey a command. Lukas couldn’t deny that some part of him respected that.

Shadow clutched the broom in her beak as she bobbed up and down with glee. It seemed she respected him enough not to play dumb, so bird and man shared one last nod of understanding before she beat her wings and took off through the canopy. Snow and pine needles cascaded down in her wake. Lukas shielded his eyes from it as he watched her go.

“Good luck with that nest, you horrible creature.”

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love when Lukas fights his urge to be an asshole. There's a heart rattling around in there somewhere!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I'm sure this draft is riddled with mistakes, so please leave a comment if you have any feedback or criticisms. I really want to improve my writing. If you enjoyed the ride, kudos are also appreciated!
> 
> Well it took over 20 years and 20 stories, but we finally got to see Zeffer again...only for him to disappear. Is he gone for good this time? Subscribe to the series and find out. ;) As always, you can check out the World of Looming Gaia blog for concept art, discussions, dumb memes and more: https://loominggaia.tumblr.com/post/175087795478/looming-gaia-masterpost


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